President’s speech at the burial of Cde Ntuliki

AMAI Ntuliki and the bereaved Ntuliki family;

Vice-President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa and Amai;

The President of the Senate, Amai Edna Madzongwe;

Speaker of National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda; Our Chief Justice Honourable Luke Malaba; The Minister of Harare Metropolitan Province, Mai Honourable Miriam Chikukwa; Honourable Ministers here present; Commander of our Defence Forces, Cde Chiwenga and other service chiefs here present;

War veterans, detainees, restrictees and collaborators; Our Honourable Members of the Parliament; Members of the diplomatic corps; Fellow mourners, Ladies and Gentlemen, Comrades and friends;

I also recognise the presence here of our distinguished visitor, Honourable Sioka; Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare of our friendly country, Namibia.

Only two weeks ago, we were here to bury freedom fighter of the Second Chimurenga, James Jotam Murozvi.

Today, again, with tears still on our cheeks, we have been called upon by circumstances to come to this shrine as we mourn the departure of our gallant son of the second liberation struggle, Cde Zenzo Ntuliki. Mourning and laying his soul to rest. May I, on behalf of Zanu-PF and on behalf of Government and behalf of my family, extend my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved members of the Ntuliki family who have lost their very strong pillar.

May they take comfort from the knowledge that as we gather here, we are demonstrating our own sorrow.

Here, some came as individuals, but others as friends and comrades, and this to demonstrate to the family that we are with you.

We mourn with you during this hour of your grief.

Cdes and friends, the family spokesperson has just given us a moving narrative about who the late Cde Zenzo Ntuluki was to his family and workmates.

We have worked with him and true, the narrative given by the member of the family . . . we also try to give our own narrative, our own description of Zenzo’s life as we saw it, as we heard it and, of course, the fact that he is being laid here is a demonstration that he was a comrade — a comrade at arms, a comrade who went through the grill.

One who had sacrificed to go through that grill, that suffering alongside the rest of us, those who are now dear departed, whom he joins.

But others who are still alive with us whom I am sure have tears welling up in their eyes.

From the obituary that has been published and the testimony given since last week, self-sacrifice was one of his strong attributes.

Self-sacrifice; the struggle demanded that from anyone who was truly to fight for the liberation of the country, you must sacrifice and sacrifice did not mean just going out and joining the other comrades.

It meant that in your heart, in your own mind as a comrade, you were truly decided, come what may, to fight for the country.

He vehemently demonstrated by his preparedness to forego his secondary education midway through his studies to join the armed liberation struggle alongside other youths.

In the early 1970s, quite a number of youths, boys and girls, streamed out of the country; some through Botswana, others through Zambia, Mozambique to join that assemblage of our youths who later became Zanla and Zipra.

So he, like his colleagues, was determined to fight for a liberated Zimbabwe alongside others who sacrificed in the same spirit. Well, what did it mean? I mentioned that he had to sacrifice like others. It meant the hardships of the struggle, whatever they may be — hunger, the consequence of illness, attacks from the enemy — if these ills visited, they would find you ready to assimilate that they will come, to say I am prepared to die for my country.

So, “The leaders, take me, whatever training you can give me, like the training you have given others, I will accept. “Whatever command you give I will obey.” That was the spirit, the spirit of Zenzo as indeed was the spirit of others.

And as you dedicate yourself in that manner and give yourself up, reject the oppressors back home.

The associations, the organisations you were joining had rules to be obeyed and leaders to be listened to, but you obliged.

The totality of your being must accept the fact that you obey, obey the rules, obey the commands and that is what we call discipline.

And we were told that he was a very very disciplined comrade.

When he came to us, he did not expect to do as he wished or his will. No.

He had no personal will to follow after he had dedicated himself to the struggle. The organisation had taken over and was the director of his will. They directed him and then he went. And if he was asked to go for further training, he could not say no.

He was sent for further training to Bulgaria after experiencing that rough stay in the camps, whether it was Mgagao or Morogoro camps in Tanzania.

And it was not just any person or any one of the comrades who were sent for further training in the countries which were friendly to us and were prepared to assist us in the furtherance of our armed struggle.

Bulgaria was one of them and quite a number of cadres were sent to Bulgaria for different kinds of training.

We are told that one of the commanders who he served under is our now National Army Commander Lieutenant-General Valerio Sibanda and you know he is just not a commander, he is our commander.

He has also been asked to be the Commander of the United Nations Peace Project.

So, really he certainly went through very good hands.

We are back home, thank God he is really one of those who returned home alive.

So, back home, he had to also continue, he had worked hard, sacrificed so much for the freedom and independence of Zimbabwe.

That independence had come in 1980, beginning to go back and educating, continue work he had left off at home.

He had acquired new experience, which now made him a suitable person for the role of intelligence and security and this is what he had also studied in Bulgaria alongside some 14 others.

He was to continue now practising what he had learnt, and even improving on it.

If he was to undertake education it was education in that area, and we know that it’s not an area where we can reveal the many things that this area does.

Intelligence and security doesn’t allow us to do that.

The protection of the country, the protection of its leaders, the protection of the economy and the defence and protection of the nation as a whole.

All these factors demand the greatest amount of secrecy. Secrecy . . . haungomwauka uri ikoko. Aiwa.

The discipline, which I referred to, is one of the qualities he had.

He continued to exercise it, to exercise that discipline in the protection of the nation, but also the protection of the leaders.

Isusu zvatiri pano, hatingomhanya-mhanya, tichingodauka-dauka zvisiri mugwara rinoonekwa nevawongorori vedu.

Nyanzvi dzedu dzine maziso, nyanzvi dzedu dzine nzeve, nyanzvi dzedu dzine ruzivo rwekuti apa patsvene, apa pane nyoka.

Musafambe nepapaapa, mungarumwe.

Saka tinopihwa nyanzvi dzine maziso anowongorora zviri kure kure, ane nzeve dzinonzwa zvose zvinonyeyewa. Ndokurarama kweduka sevatungamiri. Haungovhaira uchiti zvandakasarudzwa kuCongress zvakwana.

Saka wakanga anzi ndiye achava nzeve, ndiye achava muwongorori waVaNkomo, Umdala Wethu vari pano; uko akashanda kwenguva yakareba.

Handifungi kuti manga muchizviziva, but that is the work of our central intelligence. Iko zvino kuna VaMohadi as Minister. Tine mukuru weko, VaBonyongwe, vanoshanda pamwe chete nemawuto edu.

Nekuti basa ravo ringasiyane the nature of operation, the kind of defence, the kind of defence they offer; from that of the army and that of the police.

They are the arms of the security pane nyoka dzatinovimba nadzo and the intelligence, as I said, central intelligence ndiko kune avo vane nzeve dzedu — close security — nemaziso edu.

Pokupedzisira ari kuintelligence ikoko, vane maitiro avo as they operate.

Even our forces, vane madivisions avo; geographical areas where their various organs operate from.

Apparently, kuintelligence, they had two main geographical organs and I understand he operated in the Western region, and it meant supervising the area.

Vamwe vanenge vari pasi kuti area yakakura kudaro . . . they are co-ordinated properly.

So, it was in this geographical area he operated from. He was born in 1959. Kungonzwa kuti mumwe wedu waenda, you ask questions. Why, why, why?

We asked the same question two weeks ago. Why, why, why? No one can answer the why. We try to go to the pastors, the men of God and we ask why, why, why? Why should we depart from this earth? They don’t have the answer, they will refer you to the Holy book — the Bible.

The answer comes perhaps when they lay you to rest vachiti takabva muvhu, tinodzokera muvhu.

Woti, “Ko ndakabva muvhu, ko handingoramba ndiri mupenyu here sevhu iroro?” Iwe wakabva muvhu, hausi ivhu iroro. Vanobva vati, “Sekuru wedu ainzi Adam, ndiye akakanganisa akatanha muchero ndokudya muchero waakanga asina kupihwa.” Ko ndisekuruka uyu. Ko ndokwatinobvazve. Saka ndopakazoramba achadzokera kuvhu.

Anyway, they will tell you, the pastors, if you do good work on earth, you will be rewarded in the life hereafter.

Now, we, as we dwell on this earth, are interested that the bit of life that we have in our geographical entities that we call countries.

As nations, there should be happiness, there should be joy, the joy of life that we all share as people of one country.

And no country must deny another the right to that joy and that joy is not just laughing, dancing and singing. It is life as we know it. Our people must live and know what life is to the best of the knowledge that God has given us. Interact with others as much as possible. What we have also learnt is we bequeath legacies, leave nhaka, leave children, generations, one generation and that appears to be for us the kind of eternity of life, which we cannot be denied by any other nation.

We must have the right to exploit our resources; our gold, our diamonds; to have our land for our agriculture; to grow what we require, what we have described as being masters of our destiny.

And if a country within our region wants to disturb our lives, that right of being masters of our resources, we must defend ourselves.

A foreign country decides to be hostile, we must defend ourselves. Get back where you came from. Our land . . . they have taken from us. Fight back and give us. This is the story, the story we are writing through our struggle; that of fighting for our rights, our joy and the legacy of our generations of Zimbabwe.

So, no other nation can disturb that continuity of a life in our sense, to change the lives of our people .

We need that freedom and independence and that right where everyone of us can hit his chest and say, “I belong to our country. I am a Zimbabwean, I am a child of the soil.”

That is what vari pano vese ava . ndozvatinoda, zvamunoda toita saizvozvo.

Let us not forget also, kune avo, vandataura, who might want to make what is not theirs their own and take other people’s resources and call them their own.

Occupy other people’s countries and call them their own.

No country in this day and age and no people in this day and age will allow foreigners to declare that another country which is geographically separated from theirs their own.

We cannot allow Zimbabwe to fall into the hands of others or countries outside ourselves.

I am one of the few to free my country so that the foreigner can get out of my country. achiti munhu wese . . tose

So, what is today in the hands of the foreigner should get back into the hands of my people. Mafarms adzokere mumaoko evanhu vangu. Zvose. Nyika yose. Makomo ese. Nzizi dzose dzatinoimba dziya dziuye mumaoko edu. Ko ndozvazvavaka, that is what it is now. So, what are we to derive from the sacrifices that Zenzo and others have made?

And to work in this manner that is to get into the organisation, magroups edu which we created: The military arms of Zanla and Zipra.

And today, we have a country and an army vaive Zipra, vaive Zanla yava Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

Vamuri kuona vese ava ndodzaive nyanzvi musango, vachimudzidzisa vamwe vacho iye mushakabvu. Ndoo nyanzvi dzatichiinadzo. We call them soldiers. Some are commanders, naturally, but all of them, eventually, we call them mauto.

Vamwe vari kudivi kwaakange ava uko, vesecurity yandataura, yemaziso nenzeve; intelligence nesecurity.

Vamwe variko kuona kuti ny’any’a dziye dzinoda kukanganisa magariro akanaka aya, ava vanoba mumadhorobha imomu vachipinda mudzimba dzevanhu vane pfuti, vachirepa vakadzi nevana vadiki — disgraceful crimes being committed.

Vamwe, nevarume vakuru, raping small small babies.

Mbavha, mhondi ndodzinoda kukanganisa hupenyu . . .nadzo nadzo!

Ndomapurisa atinoti, kwamunoita ini.

Kana munhu aine very smart dogs dzaanadzo pamba pake . . . but in a greater way, tiri kuti kuvanhu vedu vanenge varikuchipurisa avo, mbavha dzese idzi nadzo nadzo! Saaaa! Dzikasungwa, itsitsi zvadzo dzatinoita nekuti murawo unozoti hamubva mapondera vanhu vamunosunga asi vatinhirei kudanga, kuye kumajeri, mugokiya nekey dzakanaka.

Saka ikokowo ndokunobva imwe security yekuona kuti ny’any’a dzinokanganisa hupenyu hwakarwirwa naanaZenzo vachizvipira hukanganiswe.

Aiwa, tinoda magariro akanaka, tive vanhu vanonzwisisana. Vanhu vakabatana, unity ivepo. Kubatsirana kuvepo. Ndozvatinoda izvozvo. So, let that message sink. Those who lie here and others who are still in our services, we call them security services. They are our defenders, defenders of our lives.

Defenders of our joy, the joy yatinayo to be defended against internal disturbers of that joy; ny’any’a dziri muno munyika.

Avo vanenge voda, vari vekunze, ndosaka tiine defence forces. Mauniform ahasi ekungopfeka aya. It’s the person in the uniform, kuti chaakaipfekera chii? Mati mambozvibvunza? Ask yourself kuti iwe wakaipfekera chiyi uniform, kuti unake here? They will give you the answer. Anyway, Zenzo, we are laying Zenzo to rest and to the family again, I say uyu murwi akarwa. He has played his part and today, we say well done, son of the soil. Well done! We shall always remember you and we shall pass on the good work you have done. Your name shall go down as part of our legacy for the future generations.

So, I say to the family once again, your tears are our tears. Tiri kuchema tiri tose.

We lay to rest our revered son and think of the good work he has done. You worked for the people, truly. Let us take that as the contribution of the family that was made towards freedom and also towards defence and protection and the post-war. Achiripo nanhasi. We have stood firm. Kana ndichiti we have stood firm ndichiti “Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again’, ndiana Zenzo vandinenge ndichinzwa, ndichiti their spirit, the spirit of our forces is the spirit that he also had, at least in your hearts in your minds.

Ava ndevekuti we will defend Zimbabwe come what may.

You also, in your heart, say we will support the defence of Zimbabwe come what may. Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again.

Zenzo, go well, may your soul rest in eternal peace.

I thank you. “Avo ehe” sekutuma